I let the date get past me; yesterday was the 50th anniversary of preservation of San Francisco Maritime Park's ship Balclutha.She is one of only four surviving Cape Horn square riggers built during the 1880s decade. These sailing ships arrried varied cargos, especially Welsh coal (for steam engines) and California grain.Many of these sailing cargo ships had a special opening in the hull for loading railroad rail. Sheffield iron and steel was used to export large quanties of railroad rail. Our ship did not load such a cargo, but many of her cousins did!Come and have a look at the Maritime Park if you get to San Francisco!Ted Miles

Congratulations Ted.For those of you who aren’t familiar with the San Francisco Maritime Museum, it is fantastic and much more than just a single square rigged ship. They have the Eureka, a wooden hull, walking beam ferry, once owned by the North Western Pacific Railroad, the Hercules, a Western Pacific Railroad steam tug among other goodies. Dave Lathrop recently wrote a brief on his visit to the park that can be found elsewhere here on this site.

Happy Aniversary! The San Francisco maritime park (known at that time I think as the Maritime Museum) was one of my favorite spots when I was in San Francisco many years ago (1982, I think.) At the time Balcutah was at a diferent pier, and perhaps not yet a part of the collection, but I was happy to hear that she's in the collection now. And I was glad to see the work on Eureka. Out of curriosity, do you still have the band in a box on board, and if so does it still work? That was a strange and intersting piece of preservation.Sincerely,David Ackerman

Ned,Yes the Balclutha was over at Pier 43 until 1989, but she was made part of the NPS in 1978 when the old San Francisco Maritime Museum was taken into the Park Service.And yes there are still some old time machines aboard the Eureka. She has had much of the superstructure re-built since you saw her.Now it is the C.A. Thayer's turn. In a sea plane hanger! Would you believe it! Thanks for the interest.Ted Miles